Column: Ipswich's defiant Samuel Appleton

Saturday

Apr 19, 2014 at 8:05 AMApr 19, 2014 at 8:05 AM

On April 18, 1689 leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony reclaimed control of the government from the crown-appointed governor, Sir Edmund Andros.Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich was given the honor of handing Andros into the boat, which conveyed him to prison on Castle Island in Boston Harbor and was appointed to serve on the new ruling council.Only a year earlier, Major Appleton Andros had imprisoned Appleton.On the evening of Aug. 23, 1687, the Rev. John Wise gathered town leaders to organize opposition against a new tax Andros imposed A hastily-called town meeting the next day voted that "no taxes should be levied upon the subjects without consent of the Assembly chosen by the Freeholders" and refused to appoint a tax collector.On Sept. 19, a warrant was issued for the arrest of several Ipswich men for being "seditiously inclined and disaffected to his Majesty’s government."Major Appleton took refuge in Saugus, where he delivered an address denouncing Andros from a rocky cliff that is known to this day as Appleton’s Pulpit. Additional warrants were issued against him for "absconding himself." The others eventually gave bond, but the 62-year-old Major Appleton scorned the appearance of submission and refused to make any apology. He remained imprisoned in the cold Boston Jail through the winter.The next time you are at the Ipswich post office, look up at the large mural which bears the motto, "The Birthplace of American Independence 1687.? There stands Major Samuel Appleton, who through his words and deeds bore witness to the peoples’ rights nearly a century before the Declaration of Independence.Gordon Harris is chairman of the Ipswich Historical Commission. Visit the Historical Commission site at http://historicipswich.org.